THE AGRICULTUR AL GAZETTE. 



[Nov. 29, 



in 



caoitafpSSSd by the jutpfe of the Highlands, 

 S pi5 ^em in circumstances of prostration too 

 Sloa to leave them any great chance of recovering 

 themselves ; or rather in circumstances from which, 

 the present state of the country, recovery of them 

 a peopk is impossible." Emigration appears the 

 ^lv present available remedy ; and an act was 

 paid in the last Session, to enable part of the 

 koney advanced nnder the Land Improvement 

 Act, to be employed in assisting enngra ion from the 

 Scottish Highlands. It is satisfactory to know that 

 comfort and independence await those .who -may 

 avail themselves of such assistance to establish them- 

 lelves in North America. 



We know not whether 



it is proposed to confine this aid to settlers in the 

 British colonies-a limitation more easily enacted 

 th*n enforced— but whether in the States or the 

 British provinces, Professor Johnston found, during 

 his recent tour, that industry and sobriety rarely 

 foiled to place the agricultural emigrants, who 

 refrained from speculating in the lumber trade, in 



It is satisfactory, also, 



their condition, 



comfort and independence. 



desirous of 



to those desirous ot improving 

 without dissolving their British connections, to know 

 that these advantages are quite as easy of attain- 

 ment in Canada and New Brunswick as in the 



United States. 



Mr. Miller, who appears to look with regret on 

 . the emigration of a large portion of the Highland 

 population, is able to suggest no other practicable 

 remedy for their distress. Their restoration to the 

 talleys of the interior he found barred, in 19 cases 

 out of i! by those green patches being bound by 

 lease to some extensive sheep farmer, and as little 

 available for the present emergency, even to the 

 proprietor, as if they lay in Canada or the United 

 States. We may add, that pasturage, being the 

 natural application of such mountainous districts, 

 will always be the most profitable ; and that the 

 most profitable will always be the prevalent applica- 

 tion of the soil in any country under an advanced 

 state of civilisation. His other proposed remedy, 

 that of enlisting some 20,000 Highlanders in the 

 British army, is barred by an obstacle which he 

 has stated himself — the decay of the old martial 



spirit of the Highlanders, and the reluctance of the 

 population to enlist. 



A more feasible substitute for emicrration is that 

 proposed by Mr. Brown, in the pamphlet on the 

 Flax culture before alluded to, namely, the revival 

 of the cultivation of Flax and of its preparation and 

 conversion, which once flourished in the Highlands, 

 he says, as a domestic manufacture. To their 

 revival, however, in that form, there are formidable 

 obstacles. The linen trade, like the manufacture of 

 kelp, has undergone a revolution. The spinning- 

 wheel and the hand-loom have been superseded by 

 steam-driven machinery; and if Flax is to be raised 

 in the Highlands, it must be to supply the mills of 

 Dundee, Leeds, and Belfast. 



The cultivation of Flax is also in a revolutionary 

 state. 



It has long been evident that, in order to extend 

 the growth of it in Britain, a division of labour is 

 necessary, which shall separate the cultivation of 

 the crop from the preparation of the fibre. With 

 the improved processes, the old system of steeping 

 will be unable to compete. At the head of these 

 new processes we place Schenck's patented system 

 of steeping in hot water, as it has been in success- 

 ful operation for some years, and produces an article 

 for which there is an established market ; whereas 

 the commercial success of Claussen's short fibre or 

 Flax-cotton has yet to be proved. If therefore the 

 soil of the Highlands be, as Mr. Brown says (and 

 he ought to know), adapted to the growth of Flax, 

 to be exchanged for the food it will no longer yield, 

 t&e lntroc. aion of the Flax culture must be effected 

 by the formation of establishments for preparing the 

 fibre from straw to be purchased of the grower! and 

 for employing the present redundant population in 

 spinning it by machinery. This will be to fall in 

 with the current ; it is vain to attempt to stem it 

 by the ^-establishment of a domestic manufacture, 



a T?u Ct , ed 0a the oId spiring system, which 

 rendered the fann er a mere weave r, raising his own 

 food and raw Material, 



different work*, in the best manner. The saw-mill is a 

 most useful invention, but requires modifications to 

 meet particular circumstances ; we cannot, in this 

 country of knotted cross-grained wood, use the one or 

 two toothed saw, successfully used in America at im- 

 mense velocity, where the wood is soft and uniform in 

 train, and free of knots. Nor can any wood be brought 

 with safety to the power-driven saw, without the pre- 

 vious squaring of adze and hatchet ; then it has to be 

 hauled up and placed upon tables with guides, wheels, 

 and rails. In the same way we must, by manual and 

 horse labour, by tramways and rails, by levelling, 

 straightening, and lengthening our fields, and by bring- 

 ing the soil to some degree of uniformity of texture, 

 prepare the way for the steam-plough, and, moreover, 

 so arrange the different working parts of it as is best 

 suited for the particular work it has to do. Steam- 

 power is exerting a nearly uniform energy, and we 

 must have regard to the opposing obstacles, so as to 

 interpose compensating contrivances, as well as to see 

 that the tool, put for its use, is the best suited for the 

 purpose ; and after doing what we can to prepare the 

 soil, as well as the machine, all our ingenuity will be 

 * * to provide against the shocks and strains 



Several steam-ploughs have 



purpose ■ 



well as the machine, all or 

 required to provide against the shocks and strains 



which will take place. 



been invented, which, under favourable circumstances, 

 are said, for I should mention that I have not seen 

 them in operation, to do their work in a way which 

 gives every encouragement for extending the applica- 

 tion. The plan usually adopted has been, to place the 

 engine at one end of the field, along which ft gradually 

 moves, as the plough which it drags up at right angles 

 to itself, by a chain, requires a new breadth of land. 

 Where 'the land is intersected by canals, the engine 

 has been placed in 'a vessel and proceeds as before. 

 Several machines have also been invented, where the 

 part which works the soil is attached to the frame-work 

 on which the engine is placed, to which it is connected 

 by gearing, so that the whole machine is intended to be 

 self-moving over the land, working as it advances, or 

 rather retires. It certainly is most desirable to see such 

 a machine marching at a regular pace along the length 

 and breadth of the field, doing its work regularly, deeply, 

 and efficiently, leaving behind it a well-prepared seed- 

 bed, while, at a nimbler pace, a lighter machine dib- 

 bles in seed, giving its portion of manure as it 

 does so, or distributing the seed with all the regularity 

 of a self-moving spinning machine, and at a later period 

 again to see it making a clean sweep, and folding up, as 

 it were, the tall grain ; all this we may hope to see, but 

 to accomplish it, under the less favourable circumstances 

 than the jenny, we must proceed with due consideration 

 of all the difficulties to be overcome. On steep land 

 there can be no profit in attempting to make a self- 

 moving machine travel over the field, and so hopelessly 



the engine 



In the centre, parts on a level with the 



allotted for carts, and frequently "wouirbe?«erfIS 

 ones, even to the greatest height, either ready iTlt 

 early start, or late brought in, while cranes are read v * 

 hoist up the grain, and weighing machines are It * 

 convenient side of the entrance, suspended above L* 

 out of the way may be seen harvest cart frames and 

 implements. Towards one end of the whole farm 

 station, is a thin partition which separates the t^I 

 alluded to from the covered stack yard, thereby seeurf* 

 the crops in a more speedy and less, in the Ion* J* 

 expensive way, saving time and labour of thatching and 

 clipping ; then the wet days can be employed in tta 

 barn, when it might be unsafe to break up a stack "f 

 outside, and expose it to the wet. The sides of the part 

 for stacks and the upper parts of the whole are fitted 

 with moveable louvrcd blinds, so that ventilation and 

 free access of air can be regulated. As the whole is to 

 be well lighted with gas, made at the gasometer outside 

 the premises, which can be put up for a moderate sum 

 not exceeding 507., the work inside can be carried on 

 to any hour that is required. Above the whole is an 

 elevated cistern supplied by a force pump, worked by 



ine ; from this pipes run to the e&ttle pens stables 

 and wherever water is needed, as well as nozzles in 

 several places, to which hose are attached in case of 

 fire, and for washing out the whole place, as well as 

 washing out byres and clearing drains. Que feature o£ 

 the whole is, that galvanised corrugated iron is much 

 used for the sides, divisions, and roof. It is strong and 

 durable, and of good appearance, and should be made 

 at a cheaper rate. I have before advocated its use for 

 fences. It need scarcely be added that the greatest 

 order and regularity prevails in such an establishment, 

 and the time and work is so well marked by the large 

 clock and bell, that the very impatience of the cattle, if 

 not supplied with their food at the appointed hour, 

 helps to enforce regularity. I may remark, in passing: 

 how great an improvement it would be to cover in 

 stable courts, or even a space in 'front of the coach 

 houses ; just take a look on a rainy day at the operation 

 of yoking the horses to a carriage, or on a wet night 

 when some friends' carriages are ther 

 exposed to the wet ; a dim lantern, flickering abont^ 

 rather adds to the confusion, by frightening a young 

 horse, the whole is hastily done and harness imperfectly 

 buckled ; compare all this with the advantages of bem* 

 under cover and properly lighted, besides many other, 

 that of exercise in winter. But to return to the farm. 

 Manure is now our great munition, with which to fight 

 free trade, consequently house feeding and the culture 

 of feeding crops are rapidly extending ; for this, the 

 steam farm, with its station, is most particularly adapted 



*> 



e 



standing out 



both in the preparation of food and housing the auimals ; 



. B __ _.. _ r _™ v and as carrying in the crops is heavy work, on tins 



exhaust the power. While on flat well-prepared land, ! house system the rails are well suited for this. Farts 



W 



STEAM FARMING. 



in place of the stationary engine and moving plough, 

 a self-moving machine might be profitably employed to 

 do the deep and heavy work ; and on the steep land, 

 and for light work on the prepared land, the stationary, 

 or rather, the same engine, say with a revolving drum, 

 in place of its cultivator, placed at the side or end of the 

 field, would drag along its detached tender at a much 

 quicker pace than it could possibly move itself, as well 

 as disturbing the soil less. The consideration of the 

 best forms of the engine, and manner of placing it on 

 its carriage, the way in which this carriage should move 

 on the land, and in what manner the working part, or 

 cultivator, should be attached, when the machine is self- 

 moving, and when it is stationary ; then the kind of 

 cultivator to be employed for performing all the different 

 preparatory operations, as well as those for finishing the 

 work, should all be treated of ; but I fear that I can do 

 little more than make the outline. Before proceeding 

 with such remarks as I can offer on these subjects, 

 and having pointed out the necessity of preparing for 

 the steam-plough, let us indulge in a sort of vision of a 

 steam-worked farm. There is no finer sight than an 

 extensive roofed-in station on any of the great lines of 

 railway. The high airy space, well lighted from the 

 roof, which is even elegantly supported, prevents all 

 feeling of inconvenience or closeness from being nnder 

 cover, while gre&t indeed are the advantages ; every- 

 thing can be done and kept in greater order and regu- 

 larity than in the open air, as, being independent of the 

 weather, there need be no rushing about to get under 

 cover, or leaving property to be destroyed by wet ; and 

 the whole lighted up at night looks like a great hall. 

 Now, picture the innumerable advantages of such an 

 edifice as a farmstead, how well adapted for our climate. 

 The whole might be entered by a large archway, either 

 at the end or sides ; on each side ranges of byres, 

 stahles, and every necessary building, either under 

 separate roofs of their own, or under the one large roof, 

 and of different tories in height ; some mere open 

 lofts, others more enclosed, for granaries, and other 

 purposes. A large space in the centre, and at a lower 



are fitted for farms of all 



them out 



sizes, 

 lame 



t fully implies a tog 

 then be found to he b; 



y 



-he 



We are much indeWi ♦ , piupwc©. a loqje bpce m uw wuire, aim at a lower 



«C. W. H » for drawiniTSL r y ° W r corrcs P ondent > ! level than the sideways, which would be broad on each 

 land by ste'am He ar-ueTrST }° cult ' vation of \ *<k, and paved, would be divided into pens for cattle, 

 employing any of the known nwL f^SV ?8 a,nst ! «heep, and pigs ; another part isamore open straw yard, 

 soil; we need more to comS rt of P^S the for the young stock. Down the ccntre,and above the heads 



ystems, according to the arcm^^^JSiZ t ^ anima, f'J herei ^ line * **? I °™*™<**»8 «th 

 done, which, we require to keen hTS , *? be the 8traw and the root 1,ouseS ' and t,le P ,ace wh «re 



operations, Acting u'pon \ JiJ^^^P Van ° U9 j P° red *«* 5 ■£* The wa SS ons which ™ on this 



.. » • 6 f ™ » wimuin constantly varvtntr. \ -xr-cx ni> n <rU<iJ ,„;■.!. e „i„ u .,i.:.i 1 • >. 



these plans 

 though to carry 

 farm, the expense would 

 no means excessive, if we compare it with 

 outlay on different buildings and keeping them np.it 

 the land was portioned out to small farms, and it would 

 perhaps be found to be the least expensive where new 

 buildings had to be erected. One effect of modern 

 speculative propensities is, that men of capital are on 

 the look-out for safe investment ; and land is one kiw 

 of security in which there is confidence, but wnwft 

 unless in good order and well farmed, makes dik » 

 small return. Capital will turn to land, andj conse- 

 quently to farming, which is being made a study m 

 profession, instead of being looked upon as a dot* 

 gift along with acres. Another reason for the imp™ 

 farming of land is, that proprietors wMjJg,, 

 exert themselves to obtain any rent. " " stion 

 the more interesting to examine Jjtoetery ^^ 

 for carrying on the operations ot tne num. ^ 



with the buildings is the steam-engine, whicn, 

 case, would require to be of more power tft- ^ 

 giving motion to all the most approved macn ; 

 grinding, bruising, threshing chopping, an" ^ 



rations, as well as to a circular saw and Dor . g s d()Be . 

 where gates, hurdles, and carpenter wor ^ 



Flour is prepared, and, at the optional tn ^ ^ 

 can purchase at a low rate such quantities ^ ^ 

 of the pure unadulterated article ; and * ta<TeS) fo t the 

 board, is kept, under regulations and adya _e > por . 



! from whose" kitchen the 'f'^ffiJt 

 chase rations at fi xed rates. The churn is w u ^.^ 

 steam power, nor is it allowed to pass m pr con vey 

 heating the poultry -house, after which tlie ^ n v co ib 01 



single men 



pipe ; this is what gardeners can » * an ^ after 



place ; the air is admitted by a large grating , ^m or 



being heated, is driven by fanners into a 



wooden 



pre- 

 line 



-~ -in^ung too great a umlormitv of action n^i^. IacIL JT^wT-T 6 , ^"*-™-«~»«™ "«« <" rans, uy 



•Aft variety tf distances, but 'the *& JSS * StS • ^ *3* "* ^ T™*** *° the land - 

 **> to Menare a m^h^- «»', «■„ »J«t should . I he dung » thus well prepared, beinsr troddtn hv thp 



a audSaTfii^ f«wS5-nT? ' The , dua ? * thus well prepared, being troddm by the 



tune mtea tor performing the , « at tle, and neither washed by rain nor dried by sun. 



it into a small apartment where there are • . heat ^g 

 n;no • *\i-,a ; a «,!..) r.m.A^ara call a rotma % j^ 



ge 



in 



ila 



bottle-rack looking stands, while ^l^", 

 the moist air ; and the dried fodder bem The 



replaced b^ other in a less favourable algoc!a ii86 

 laundry-maid from the house, with her m> > ^ pigs is 

 a day occasionally. The food for the co^ ^ tb e 



pipe ; this is what gardeners call a ^T^" an ^ after 

 drying-room,'where corn and hay is laid °n ax S_^ v ff 



carry 

 removed. » 



also steamed, while the latter s° me " j ot i, e r op^ 

 benefit of a warm bath. Most of these, a ' irab ly-c««»- 

 tions, may be seen at work at many gJ ^o 



ducted farming establishments ; bjit" ve apposed {i J 

 has to be yet further extended. " c " tbe Un*s * 

 station complete ; we have now to tur fMgl m 



rail. There would be ft trunk line, »o ^ ^ 

 buildings, through the centre oUhej" ^ „,«*• 

 field, and from it sidings to each flew, ^ 09 



able set of rails can be attached, so as to 



